(The punch may have missed, but Dillishaw’s stank bref definitely found its mark.)
It is not a good time of year to be a struggling UFC fighter, Potato Nation.
Just a day after it was made public that Charlie “Big Hair” Brenneman (nickname pending) had been released from the UFC following a pair of losses to Kyle Noke and Erick Silva, the UFC has announced that four more UFC fighters will have to significantly cut back on their children’s wish lists this Christmas. Spoiler alert: Most of the names will not surprise you, unless you were unaware that some of them were fighting in the UFC in the first place, or even a person at all, which is likely the case with a couple of these guys.
And the nominees for saddest fighter of the day are…
–Michihiro Omigawa: Following an 0-2 stint in the octagon between 2007-2008, the DREAM and DEEP veteran reentered the UFC in February of 2011. Unfortunately for him, his second run didn’t go much better than the first. He would drop his first fight to future title challenger Chad Mendes by way of unanimous decision at UFC 126 and get absolutely screwjobbed out of a victory in his second fight against Darren Elkins at UFC 131. A UD victory of his own over Jason Young at UFC 138 would be his first and his last under the Zuffa banner, as he would suffer back-to-back unanimous decision losses to Iuri Alcantara and former WEC featherweight title challenger Manny Gamburyen at UFC 142 and UFC on FOX 4, respectively. Omigawa’s record currently stands at 13-12.
–Walel Watson: Sporting one of the most appropriate and catchy nicknames in the business, “The Gazelle” entered the UFC and immediately made big waves by thrashing Joseph Sandoval in just over a minute at UFC LIVE 6. The Corey Hill of the bantamweight division would not have such a good run in his next three contests, which consisted of a SD loss to Yves Jabouin, a UD loss to T.J. Dillishaw, and most recently a first round submission to Mitch Gagnon at UFC 152.
–Eiji Mitsuoka: We will follow up one of the cooler fighter nicknames with one of the most arrogant and contrived. A classic case of setting your standards way too high, ”The Heaven-Sent Child of the Cage” entered the UFC with a less than Godlike 18-7 record and immediately had the beJesus beat out of him by Takanori Gomi at UFC 144. The sacrificial lamb of God would be given a chance to rise from the dead at UFC 150, but would be straight up crucified (ARE YOU GETTING IT YET?) by Nik Lentz in the first round. Heavy lies the crown of thorns, Eiji.
–Tommy Hayden: File this one under the “Who?” category. Only forty seconds separated the pair of losses the undefeated Hayden would suffer upon entering the UFC. The first came to Fabricio Camoes at the inaugural UFC on FX event via rear-naked choke and the second would come at UFC 150 to Dennis Bermudez via guillotine. We hardly knew ye, Tommy. Seriously, who the hell were we talking about again?